Standard procedures for preparing tissue samples for microscopic examination involve embedding the tissue samples in paraffin and slicing paraffin-embedded tissues samples very thinly with a microtome. Examples to carry out this technique in plastic cassettes are described in my U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,080,869, 5,665,398, and 5,928,934, which are incorporated herein by reference. The '869 patent describes practicing the technique by way of stacked cassettes held in stacked array by means of a mechanical device. However, the stacked cassettes are not in a stabilized or self-sustaining stack for handling.
In the preparatory phase of histological tissue processing of biological tissues there are frequently multiple sections or specimens processed for the same case study. Research laboratories in Animal Biology and Biotechnology are frequently required to study multiple tissue samples from the same source. In the instance of human pathology studies there are about 50 percent of the cases that require multiples, as for example in autopsy tissue studies there are frequently 20 to 50 tissue samples that each require a processing cassette and in large specimen tumor studies such as lung or colon resections for cancer treatment six to ten samples are required. When multiple samples are prepared from the same surgical specimen, autopsy or animal study, it is desirable for processing efficiency to keep the samples together in numbered sequence and handleable as a group throughout preparation for microtome sectioning. I call this grouping “case management”. Case management would be facilitated if a group of cassettes could be handled as a stabilized unit without handling individual cassettes during processing and if sensory signals of feeling and sound, or the “click” of audible assurance could be provided upon locking cassettes together.
It is a principle object of the invention to provide stackable cassettes which lock together to provide a stabilized stack of cassettes which can be handled as a unit.
It is another object of the invention to provide stackable cassettes which lock together with an audible sound and a sensory “click” feeling to assure adequate connection to the user.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide an improved method for case management.